Medlin, who once had three prized Ferrari sports cars seized by the Internal Revenue Service, is ending a seven-year battle with the federal government.

In court documents filed earlier this month, Medlin was charged with concealing property claimed by the Internal Revenue Service. The one-count complaint says the move was part of an attempt to evade federal income taxes.

Medlin, 53, of Kissimmee signed a plea agreement on June 12. He also promised to help the IRS review and compute his taxes for the years of 1985 to 1996.

''Fighting the government is a costly and time-consuming process,'' said one of Medlin's lawyers, David Fussell. ''And we thought this would work everything out in an amicable way.''

Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Phillips, who filed the charge and plea agreement, declined to comment on the case. Medlin has yet to be arraigned.

Attorneys say he faces up to 18 months in prison under federal sentencing guidelines.

The plea agreement and other court records give this account:

After consenting to a $400,000 U.S. Tax Court judgment against him for the tax years 1977 to 1982, Medlin misrepresented his assets to an IRS revenue officer in 1990.

In August 1990, IRS agents seized 26 guns and rifles and a coin collection from Medlin to cover a tax lien. Medlin gave agents a $20,000 cashier's check to prevent the seizure.

The IRS also seized three pieces of Medlin's world-class Ferrari collection, once valued at $20 million, and threatened to auction them. The cars included a rare 1966 P-3; a 1967 P-4; and a 1976 308 GTB.

About 100 car collectors from 12 countries expressed interest in the sale, which was called off when Medlin paid the IRS with a $602,000 cashier's check for back taxes, civil penalties and interest.

In September 1990, IRS criminal investigators searched his home at 1401 Pine Island Road on Lake Tohopekaliga as part of a tax-evasion probe. The property included a nearby airstrip and 24 acres of orange groves.

Seized were bank and corporate records, a Belize phone book and real estate brochures from the Central American country; a marijuana grower's guide; a passport; and a visa application for Nepal.

Fussell said several people shared the home with Medlin and that not all of the belongings were his. Medlin was interested in land and citrus development in Belize and also was involved in an environmental project involving Mount Everest, Fussell said.

The search warrant affidavit filed by IRS agents alleged that Medlin may have understated income from 1985-88 and attempted to evade personal income taxes from 1977-84. It stated that Medlin reported gross income of $7,882 for 1985; $4,138 for 1986; $44,219 for 1987; and $13,506 for 1988.

An IRS audit made public at the time indicated Medlin charged personal items as business expenses and concealed his ownership in some Osceola County property in the name of Washington International Trust. Medlin also kept a Cayman Islands bank account at this time in the name of the trust, court records show.

The audit revealed that Medlin failed to report sale of the Osceola property titled to the trust, resulting in a new IRS assessment for an additional $147,000 in taxes, plus interest and penalties, according to the court.

But a criminal investigation pressed on.

Fussell and his law partner, Mark Horwitz, link Medlin's problems to an ill-timed joke.

''When they asked him where he kept his Ferraris, he made a joking comment that he didn't own them anymore,'' Fussell said.

Federal officials would not discuss the probe, which dragged on because of appeals, including one to the U.S. Supreme Court. Fussell said the complexity of Medlin's ''financial picture'' also caused delays with the IRS.

Horwitz, who says his clients only rarely plead guilty in criminal tax cases, said he agreed to the plea after convincing the government that the dispute centered on a ''fairly innocuous matter.''

''They made a lot of allegations, and I think they realized a lot of allegations were not true,'' the lawyer said.